The Panics may have originally formed in Perth, but they drew their name from a song by The Smiths about ‘Panic on the streets of London’. And indeed, the journey of the band has taken them well beyond WA to the airwaves of the UK and venues across Australia. With their latest effort, ‘Cruel Guards’ in stores now, the band prepares for a national tour. Guitarist Jules Douglas caught up with OUTinPerth’s Megan Smith to tell tales of Australian flag socks and explain the dual life of a muso.
OiP: As a Perth band who has toured around and ‘broke into the Aussie music scene’, how do the different cities compare? And why did you decide to settle in Melbourne?
Jules: It was more just we needed a change of scenery because we were always going back to Perth after these tours. To me at the time, I was just working in hospitality and you’d play to 800 people in Melbourne on a Saturday night and then be back in work on Monday afternoon and serving a drink to someone. It was a bit of a comedown
I think for us it was quite a blessing that we had already been out there a bit, simply because so many bands come here [Melbourne] and don’t manage to get a foot in the door. It is hard to meet people. It is a bigger city. You don’t always know where to go and what to do, who to meet and greet. I guess for us that was handy because we had already been here a few times and made some connections and when we came over here it was more just a case of finding a place to live and getting a day job in between records.
OiP: Have you kept your day job?
Jules: On and off, I have. I have to go to work in about 3 hours… I’m saving up for a new guitar.
OiP: Are you still in hospitality?
Jules: Oh yeah, it’s one of the music industry’s greatest friends. It’s hard to find any other venue that will just let you disappear for 2 or 3 months and then come back and pick up again.
OiP: It’s funny to think that you can play to a fan one night and serve them coffee the next…
Jules: Yeah, getting complained at by somebody whose coffee is cold is pretty surreal. Like one time, I used to work in a theatre and we had in those days shows that drew an older audience. So, I was at this matinee on a Monday afternoon after getting back from Melbourne, just helping an old lady up the stairs and into the theatre and it was like ‘man, this is a bit of a turn around from Saturday night, where I was in front of 800 people.’ It is just that dichotomy for musicians really. There’s very few that can live that troubadour lifestyle and get by. I’d probably be a lot better off playing other people’s tunes, backpacker nights 5 nights a week, but I’m happier this way.
OiP: So, you wouldn’t have it any other way?
Jules: Well, no. I’m still having fun and making music with my best mates in the world, so I can’t really fault that. Sometimes you just wish that it were a bit more stable, like other things, but then again it is creative, so you need that challenge there to bring inspiration as well.
OiP: What are some of your favourite tracks on this album and what is the story behind them?
Jules: I can definitely say I have one big favourite and I’m still not sure why, for some reason it just resonates with me – ‘Something in the Garden’. It just sounds like dark Australia to me – this really moody, weird Australia. That was one of the songs where there weren’t lyrics for it until the last minute. Literally, Jae cut that vocal our second to last day in the studio and sang harmony to it on the last day and it went off and got mixed. So, there was something really fresh about it at the time, even though we had the instrumental track kicking around for a year or so. One line in there ‘I dreamt that they found us the colour of coal’ always struck me as brilliant. That is definitely my favourite on most days.
‘Get Us Home’ is a pretty amazing track as well. Just the way the introduction is and the big strings that come in. I like the drama of it. They are probably my two standouts. I just remember when we were trying to come up with the track listings for the album there was no way to fit everything where we wanted it. If it’s hard to figure out what you are going to bury at the end of an album then I guess you have done your job pretty well.
OiP: You said with ‘Something in the Garden’, there was something about it that seems to capture Australia. Do you identify as Australian artists?
Jules: I think four members of the band have Australian flag socks. The last album tour we were all in Sydney and this place we were staying at had this little souvenir shop around the corner and everyone kind of needed socks, except me, and they had these little Australian socks for a dollar a pair. They seem to have stood up pretty well… So, we definitely identify as an Australian band. We are Australian and grown up with our heritage of bands like the Go-Betweens and Nick Cave. I think they have always been identified with a sense of Australianness, and if we can any part of that lineage, then we are in a brilliant place.
OiP: Is there anything you can pinpoint, whether consciously or not, that comes from your identity as an Australian band?
Jules: With ‘Something in the Garden’, there is something about the texture of that song that reflects the k’s between Adelaide and Brisbane that we have travelled a few times. Then again, the samples we used in that are quite American or that Western sort of feel, but I think that’s part of Australia as well, it’s plurality. If we can capture that, not necessarily multiculturalism, but certainly the plurality of ideas and influences, then that is going to make some great music.
OiP: You mentioned The Smiths, Nick Cave – are there any artists in particular that you have looked at what they do and tried to emulate it?
Jules: Musically, you are always going to look at the stuff you like and try to figure out why you like it and how you can incorporate it and make it your own in a certain way. In terms of pathways that people have trod or images that they have tried to put forth, I wouldn’t say so as much because we can’t try and follow a similar trajectory to the Smiths or anyone else because we are not from where they are from and the time they are from. We were from Perth in the late 90s and we had to work from there and move forward with things. Musically, if we can emulate our heroes and pay them good homage, then we can be pretty proud.
